While Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Welfare Board has accumulated over Rs 1000 crores as cess for the social security of construction workers, the increased retrictions and inaccessibility to welfare schemes has workers and unions fuming. According to Labour Department, the cess received between 2011 and 2015 is over 330 crore Rupees, where as the disbursement is merely 163 crore rupees for the same period. The state of other welfare boards(Tamil Nadu has over 14 welfare boards providing social security for unorganized sector workers) is much worse as they do not have a cess for social security.

Jayanthi, a tailor registered under Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Welfare board and a mother of 2 young children lives in Korukkupettai, North Chennai. The Labour Welfare board office was situated in Mint of North Chennai and was easier for her to access when applying for labour welfare schemes. The Mint office in predominanly working class neighborhood of North Chennai has been closed and moved to Anna Nagar, in East Chennai. More over, the Labour Department has also made it mandatory for workers to appear for not only registration but availing of labour welfare schemes. The restrictions in application of social security in tandem with consolidation of Labour Departments has severely restricted the access of social security for the unorganized sector workers in the city.

These issues and other demands were raised in a gherao protest organized by AITUC on July 21st in Chennai. Comrade S. Moorthy, North Chennai District Secretary of AITUC reflected that since the start of the labour welfare boards in 20 years, there has been no increase in the compensation of various welfare schemes. These include Rs 1 lakh for accidental death assistance, Rs50000 for natural death assistance, Rs 2000 for funeral assistance and Rs 6000 for maternity assistance. AITUC has demanded Rs 5 lakh for natural death, Rs 10 lakh for deaths due to accidents, 1 lakh Rs for marriage assistance, Rs 60000 for maternity assistance and Rs 25000 for funeral assistance. Comrade Moorthy also said that even the existing assitances are not paid timely as applications are rejected on flimsy excuses and workers asked to appear in person for every review. He condemned the sidelining of unions in the functioning of welfare boards and said this only makes the system more opaque.

Srinivasan, South Chennai District President of AITUC said that the ‘state Government collects cess from construction works mainly for providing welfare to the construction workers. Not disbursing what is workers’ funds to workers is tantamount to cheating’. Over 50 workers and union representatives participated in the gherao. Protestes were also held through out Tamil Nadu.

says Harsha Mander at the Public Hearing on Pensions Issues in Tamilnadu

Pension Parishad, an All India coalition of mass organizations and NGOs working on issues of social security, organized a public hearing in Chennai on issues in implementation of pension and social security schemes in Tamilnadu at ICSA, Egmore or 21st July 2015. Making his concluding remarks, Harsh Mander, (retired IAS officer), Supreme Court appointed Commissioner on Food Security, pointed out the centrality of social security in a welfare state, maintaining that at no point should we allow these to be compared to charity. He said that these are obligations that we as a nation make to our citizens, who have worked hard and are now old, who have been disadvantaged due to social circumstance or have been discriminated against. The pensions and social welfare measures are a way of repaying our debt and protecting our fellow citizens in their time of need. Outlaying the various issues that had been discussed, he said “we always rate Tamilnadu as one of the best performing states when it comes to issues of social welfare and so it severely pains me to know about the difficulties people face here to avail their rights, it is also a grim reminder of how bad the condition is in the rest of the nation. We have a serious crisis here.”

Forum for IT Employees(FITE) was formed in the aftermath of massive TCS lay-offs in late 2014-early 2015 and is made up of young workers working in IT companies. Besides job lay-offs, the group addresses various worker issues in IT industry including non-payment of salaries, biased appraisals etc. FITE has over one thousand members across India, of whom 250 are in Chennai. In an effort to promote unionization among IT workers, FITE organized a public meeting on the history of labour movement in India. Two speakers addressed the public: Comrade Vijayan, a veteran union leader in SPIC who has worked in Tuticorin, Chennai and Baroda, and Dr. V. Krishna Kumar, the President of Forum for Physiotherapists, Tamil Nadu.

According to Comrade Vijayan, the first industrial workers in England were migrants from villages who had been farmers or were in other occupations. They were uprooted and placed in new occupations in factories where they were now just individuals fighting for their rights. The working hours were long and they had no time for their family, the wages were low and housing was abysmal. In course of time workers realized that they were all facing the same issues. Their organizations gradually evolved from workers welfare committees and associations to trade unions. In response to their struggles, the English Government passed a series of laws called the Factory Acts which regulated the number of working hours, working conditions in factories and safety conditions .

In the 1850s, British systems of factory production were imported to India but not the protective laws, like the Factory Acts. In the nascent stage of labour struggle in India, labour issues were taken up by concerned. observers, like social reformers and journalists. Demands focused on working conditions for women and children. Workers started getting together to discuss issues in associations, clubs or sabhas. For example, the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in India was one such society in 1897. The Madras and Calcutta Postal Unions were set up in 1907. These processes were similar to what happened in England.

Madras Labour Union, one of the first organized labour unions in India, was started by B.P.Wadia, a student of Annie Besant. The union launched a strike against abysmal working conditions in Binny Mills, Madras (aka Buckingham and Carnatic Mills). The workers went on a hunger strike, but the management did not budge. The workers were forced to go back to work. In 1921, there was another strike, which lasted for six months. The strike was finally broken up on caste grounds. After the strike ended, Binny Mills filed a case against B P Wadia. He was charged with inciting workers and causing the mills to lose money. The court ruled against Wadia and fined him Rs 71,000, which he could not pay. The court then ordered him to retire from public life.

The radicalism and outrage built up as a result of this strike led to the passage of the Indian Trade Union Act. Article 17 and 18 of the Act decriminalized trade unions. This Act gave workers the right to form a union. Specifically, a group consisting of a minimum of seven workers could register themselves as a Union. It is interesting to note that this law has still not been enforced in spirit. We see today in the case of IT workers, that people are still afraid of being associated to a union.

In the early stages of the independence movement (for example during the Binny mills strike), labour activism was connected to mainstream political parties (for example Congress). But this changed as India approached freedom in 1947. Mainstream politics started to adopt terms like ‘constructive criticism’ and ‘nation-building’ and distanced themselves from labour activism. For example, in February 1946, various units of the Royal Indian Navy went on strike. The ‘mutiny’ started as a complaint about substandard food on a vessel off the coast of Bombay, but it soon spread to other parts of the country. Sailors abroad a vessel off the coast of Karachi went on strike. Officers in Indian army and air force also refused to take orders. The Congress party and the Muslim League strongly criticized these actions.

The discussion after the talk was focussed on the practical challenges in building a union in current day workplace. The task of organizing labour has gotten much harder than it was before the 1990s. As an example, the Trade Union Act was amended in 2001 to require a minimum of 100 members for the registration of a trade union, instead of the 7 required by the Act of 1926. The speakers also discussed the difficulties of organizing in an industry (like IT) where no unions exist. Although some companies do not explicitly forbid union activities, most employees believe that they are not allowed to join a union. In a hostile environment like this, even if one is able to form a union in a company, the union will face challenges because of the absence of unions in rival companies. The presence of a union in a company may be used to tarnish the image of the company on the grounds that worker strikes could delay the products being delivered on time. In an environment where any worker organization is viewed suspiciously, the speakers recommended adopting tactful approaches. The goals of workers’ organizations can be presented as being in the interests of the management, as they address workers’ problems and thus increase efficiency. For example, a redressal mechanism for a biased reprisal given by an immediate supervisor might contribute to a better work environment overall. The speakers emphasized the importance of maintaining good personal relations with everybody in the workplace, as a lot of workers’ issues require solutions that involve complex interpersonal interactions. After all, the worker is not in conflict with the supervisor on a personal level. The conflict of interest arises because the capitalist mode of production assigns adversarial roles to the worker and supervisor.

Over 350 workers of Diamond Engineering Steel Fabrication Plant in Mambakkam near Chennai, are striking against the labour violations of their management. Several workers have been imprisoned as the management took a high handed approach with the help of local police to suppress the workers’ solidarity. Judicial Magistrate Indira Gandhi has highlighted this aspect in a bail awarded to the imprisoned workers stating ‘Further there was a labour dispute pending before the labour court and the management ought to have resolved the dispute in labour court but have opted for prosecuting the workers through criminal court and obstruct their union activities”.

There are over 1300 workers in this plant, one of the three units of Diamond Group in this region. The male workforce is educated between 8th and ITI trained and has a work experience of over 5 to 15 years with this plant. The workers are from various districts of Tamil Nadu and also from other states predominantly from Assam, Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal. Workers from Nepal also working at the site.

The ready-made apparel industry in southern state of Tamil Nadu employs millions of workers, especially women. As per the State Government’s Textile and Handloom Department Policy Note 2012, there were 4000 garment and hosiery units in the State which employs close to 5 lakh workers. However, considering the many small contract and sub contract units, this figure is likely to be more. The industry has been routinely recognised as one of the fastest growing segments and potential earner of foreign exchange as factories produce readymade apparel for leading brands in Europe and United States.

Tamil Nadu has two major hubs where the ready- made apparels are manufactured – Tiripur and Chennai. Chennai has three major Special Economic Zones i.e Madras Export Processing Zone in Tambaram, Apparel Park in Mahindra World City in Maraimalai nagar and SIPCOT in Irungattukottai. Apart from this many factories in other industrial areas like Guindy and Ambattur. Almost 80% of garment workers in Chennai are women workers and today workers on an average earn about Rs.4000 to Rs.6000 per month. Often these are young women from agricultural families. As first generation industrial workers, they are viewed by the industry as a highly productive, yet dispensable and low cost workforce. Most of these young women travel 50kms from their villages by company provided vans and buses to work in large factories without any knowledge of their rights. Most do not know how to read a wage slip, let alone understand a legally mandated minimum wage. For women workers who live in the city, sky rocketing rents and increasing costs of living means living in a cycle of constant debt.

The Garment and Fashion Workers Union (3317/CNI) is an independent trade union of garment workers in Chennai. Since our inception in 2009, we have been campaigning for higher wages for workers in the industry, who continue to be amongst the lowest paid in the country. Karnataka and Gurgaon in fact have higher wages. In 2010, we found that the major reasons for this have been the suppression of minimum wages by the garment manufacturers through frivolous legal actions which have stalled the process of periodic wage revisions as per law.

The Minimum Wages Act was enacted in 1948 with the stated purpose of ensuring the protection of workers from bonded labour. The Act requires that each State in the country revise wages for every industry at least once every five years through a tripartite mechanism. There is also a Supreme Court mandated guideline to be followed in fixing the minimum wage. Food requirements, clothing, rent and housing, fuel, childrens education, medical expenses, etc have to be taken in consideration. However, in the case of the garment industry, the minimum wages have been revised in 1994 thereafter in 2004 and finally in December last year. Garment factory owners have been filing petitions in the High Court each time the government issues a notification and obtained interim injunctions. Till 2010, the government too did not push to defend its notification in court.

In August 2010, Garment and Fashion Workers Union impleaded in the pending cases and after a prolonged legal process, the interim injunction was lifted in 2012. Since the government no longer had any legal hurdles to revise the wages, our union, through various petitions, campaigns and dharnas pushed for revision of wages. GO 92 dated 12 December 2013 revised the wages as Rs 5511 per month for skilled workers and Rs5128 for unskilled workers per month. This was a hike of Rs.3000 from the previous wage. (As per the 2004 notification, 10 years earlier, basic wages were Rs.2137 and Rs.1903 for skilled and unskilled category respectively).

In October 2014, GO59 was passed by the Government confirming the above wage and published in the TN Gazette in December 2014. Immediately more than 200 factory owners from Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiripur have filed petitions seeking to quash the GO. The factory owners claim that the wages are too high and that it will make the business unsustainable. They have also alleged that the government has failed to follow the due process in revision of wages. This is completely untrue as two months time was given from the time the preliminary notification was published in February 2014 till the notification was confirmed in October of the same year. During this time, no employer raised any objection. Instead they choose to file these petitions after the notification is confirmed, making it clear that the intention is to stall the implementation of the wage. This has been the modus operandi of the employers in stalling the minimum wages over the last two decades.

Once again GAFWU has impleaded in the case just before the Court closed for vacations and the case is likely to come up for hearing in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, on ground, GAFWU continues to campaign at the factory gate in an effort to unite workers and resist this attack on the minimum wage.

Workers commemorate the International Day of Domestic Workers, (16th June), in Chennai

Household work is the most informal of informal work. While it had traditionally decended upon the women of the household to keep the homefront in order, it was never considered as labour. With changing life style, increasing number of households have begun to engage paid domestic workers to fulfill the great many tasks at home. Though it has now become a major contributor of employment, especially in the large unskilled category and though it overwhelmingly engages women workers, it remains the least regulated form of work with little government oversight. The foremost struggle for domestic workers is to make the state and the clients approach this as ‘work’ and those engaged as ‘legal workers’ with rigths that accrue to them. Highlighting this pitiable state of affairs and demanding basic rights, the Chennai metro domestic workers association, along with Working womens coordination committee affiliated to Center for India Trade Unions (CITU) organised a half a day demonstration at Vallurvakottam

The demands include

To notify a Minimum wage of Rs 50/- per hour for domestic workers

A weekly paid leave and leave during festivals as mandatory

Creating legal provisions to implement the ILO resolution 189

To Amend Industrial Disputes Act to include Domestic work within its ambit

To implement ESI, PF provisions for domestic workers

Exempt ‘in-person’ clause to avail welfare board benefits

Stop RI/VAO verification

provide pension for domestic workers from the age of 50

Provide free ‘Pattas’ to all domestic workers

the meeting that was presided by Com.Premavathi drew about 50 women including those working as housekeeping workers in companies. Many women cited that large numbers could not attend due to constraints of being domestic workers without any provision for leave. Speaking at the meeting, Com. Jayathi fromworking women’s coordiation committee said that the first and foremost is for domestic workers to feel proud of their employment and demand respect and recognition. Com. Appanu, district secretary of CITU, while demanding that a survey of domestic workers to be undertaken, pointed out that their demands would be acheived only if they organize. Others from various faternal organizations also spoke at the meeting

While the website(http://valingro.com/) of SPEL Semiconductor’s parent group Valingro quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson “Do not go where the path may lead.. go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”, it seems to follow the well trodden path when it comes to labour violations in its semiconductor plant in Maraimalai nagar. More than 200 workers are on strike for over 50 days since April 2015. They are demanding reinstatement of 20+ workers who have been terminated and 20+ workers who have been suspended for engaging in unionization.

SPEL Semiconductor(http://www.natronix.net/spel.htm), by its statement on its website, is the first and India’s only IC Assembly and testing site, was started in 1988 and has been operational for over 25 years. Its parent group’s chairman is an executive member of FICCI, which has lobbied successfully for the ongoing labour reforms1. The plant employs 350+ permanent workers and 100+ contract workers. Most of the permanent workers are ITI/diploma educated and have been working in the company from 10 to 25 years. According to these workers, workers with 10 years of experience earn a wage of Rs 10000 and those with 25 years of experience earn over Rs 23000. They say that any increment they get is at the inclination of the management, which has provided increments in the order of Rs 50-170 in the past.